 Starting in verse number 31 it says in the mean in the meanwhile his disciples prayed him saying master eat So they're trying to get him to these been in this conversation They want him to eat something but he said unto them. I have meat to eat that you know not up So he's talking about he's not talking about literally eating He's just saying I've got things on my plate that you have no idea Just just kind of explaining this bigger picture of why Jesus is here And of course, they don't understand this look at verse 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another hath any men brought him ought to eat You know, they're like he doesn't he doesn't have food Verse 31 Jesus said unto them my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish His work. I always I have those lines those those three words finish his work Underline in my Bible and I'll explain to you why in just a few minutes But he says that my meat is to do the will of him that sent me he's to do the will of the father So this kind of again demonstrates You know this this idea of the Trinity right here that the father sent the son that Jesus is doing the will of The father Jesus of course praise in the garden. You know if if your will be done You know he prays to God the father so we see that difference there look at verse 35 He says say not ye there are yet four months and then cometh harvest Behold I say unto you lift up your eyes and look on the fields for they are white already to harvest and he that reapeth receive us what receive it wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal That both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together I'm going to read the next couple verses and then we're going to cut up these verses tonight That's we're going to look at and herein is a saying is a is that true say that saying true one soweth and another Reapeth verse 38 I sent you to reap that we're on you bestowed no labor Other men labored and you're entered into their Labors so in verse 38 we're kind of going to walk this thing backwards But Jesus is basically saying that I'm going to send you forth to reap you're going to gather fruit unto life eternal But then he says this thing where he says He says you are going to reap where you bestowed no labor. He's saying you're going to reap you're going to bear this eternal Fruit where you did nothing. He's like you're entering into other men's Labors this is talking about other men's labors first of all he's talking about going and preaching the gospel to somebody that gets saved and you have no idea how much Work somebody else has done giving the word of God to that person Maybe you were just the final one to give the gospel to them and then they ended up getting saved at that point or You know somebody planted seeds years before is what Jesus is talking about. He's saying this is a whole process Okay, but notice what he doesn't say here look at what look at up at verse number 34 He's saying you are going to enter into other men's labors He doesn't say that you are going to enter into God's Labor you're entering into men's labors, so we're going out. He's talking about soul winning He's talking about preaching the gospel to the lost and that it you're going to be as you go preach the gospel to the Lost you are going to enter into other men's labors because you're not the only one doing it Thank God. He's saying that there's going to be people planting seeds There's going to be people watering seeds and there's going to be people reaping He's like you're going to be any one of those at any given time But notice he doesn't say that you're entering into God's labor because of verse number 34 It's interesting because Jesus sayeth unto them my means to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work So God's work of sending Jesus Christ to you know Jesus was there to do what to finish it So people that believe in workspace salvation. You know what they're doing? They're entering into God's labor They're entering into God's work, but guess what the work is already done Because Jesus came here to finish his work verse 34. So yes as we go out soul winning We're going to be entering into the labor of many other soul winners But we are not entering into God's labor because that is what workspace salvation is workspace salvation is saying you know what this work? That's already finished I'm going to add another nail of that house. I'm going to add more work to that. No more work is needed It's finished you can't work into that labor because that labor is done verse 34 So verse 34 talking about it is basically saying Jesus came here to finish this work of granting us Salvation through his death burial and resurrection And that's not what he's talking about when he says you're going to enter into their labors He's talking about entering into other people's Labors right look at verse number 36 now The purpose of the sermon tonight is to talk about look at verse 36. It says he that reapeth Receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice Together the whole context of the sermon that I want to talk about in these verses tonight is rewards and God wanting to reward us so the first thing that we need to see here look at verse number 35 verse number 35 It says Jesus starts out and he says first of all he tells him he's there to finish the work of God And then in verse number 34 or 35. I'm sorry He says there are there are yet four months and then say not ye saying don't be like this Don't be like this saying there's four months yet and then come at harvest because what happens? You plant something and the growing season is about what 120 days That's actually what the growing season is in North Dakota a little bit less than that I think but that's what it takes to grow a wheat crop for example You know you plant something and then in four months. You're ready to harvest that thing But Jesus saying don't say that he's saying don't say that because there's harvest ready now There's things. There's the there's white to harvest now. You don't have to wait four months He says I say and you lift up your eyes and look on the fields. They are white already to Harvest so the first thing that Jesus tells them is the harvest is ready now there is there is Fields that are white onto harvest meaning the the plant is not green anymore. It dries up and it turns white This is a he's he's using an example of a wheat plant here It turns white it dries up and you just get these they're white golden fields And that's what Jesus is talking about. You know what he's saying? He's saying there's people ready to be saved now Now did you know that I mean did you know that there's people right here right now in Fresno? Ready to be saved now. I mean look, I mean, you know, we were talking about this I was talking about this with a couple of the guys The other day like we don't have like a ton of resources because we're a small growing church We don't have a ton of resources to go out and and go on these big mission trips yet We don't have the resources to do things like that, but guess what? I mean this this afternoon on Wednesday, November 1st. We went on a mission trip to India today I'm serious. I got in the car after we were done soul-winning and I was like we just went on a mission trip to India And everyone's laughing like we that's exactly what we did right here in Fresno There's entire neighborhoods of people from different countries here and guess what some of those people are ready to get saved Some of those people right now all they need is for someone to go up and just show them the Bible and they will just get saved I Mean you talk about soul-winning stories from this church. I mean I heard this soul-winning story from Sunday That was just I mean it's not on the believable, but it was unbelievable The soul-winning story from Sunday that I heard just people going out and just giving the gospel to somebody that was so Happy to get saved that they went right back in their house Drag their wife and their daughter out and just says like here now tell them Those are that's what Jesus is talking about in verse 35. He's saying hey, don't wait four months What if we would have waited four months? That person would have moved away or that wouldn't have happened Talking about stories where on Sunday where somebody walks by a door and then oh I think I know the guy that lives over there and they text somebody that knows the person that goes Yeah, he's up now go knock his door again knock his door. He gets saved. I mean there's people ready right now This is what Jesus is talking about and he's talking to us He's talking to us this evening. I mean It's there it's there the the whiteness of the fields is there folks look it's not everybody But guess what some are some are growing Some are getting ready to reap We're some of them some of them and this is the one that we really need to not dismiss Some of them we go out and we talk to people. We have a nice conversation with somebody Maybe we just we leave them with some ideas. Maybe they've never been asked the question think about this I mean how many people have you talked to where they never even been asked the question We asked them a question if you died today, do you know if you go to heaven? They're like, I don't know good question I've never really thought about that or I think about that But I don't have any idea but then they don't really want to hear but guess what when you leave now they're thinking about that You know what you've done? You just plant it and now they're thinking in those wheels are turning and guess what? There's no other answer. There's no other answer out there other than try to work your way to heaven, which isn't an answer So look some are growing Some some seeds are being sown today. Some seeds are being sown Saturday some seeds are being sown Sunday and you know what maybe in a year we'll reap those But guess what you probably won't reap the same one that you saw and that's what Jesus is talking about when he's saying Somebody else is going to enter into that labor So you go and you have a nice conversation you make a decent impression on somebody you show them that you know What you're talking about when it comes to the Bible and you tend to just start thinking about some things Look there's value there and then some other soul winners going to come along and he's going to enter into those Labors that you started a year ago two years ago I've heard stories of people getting the gospel three years prior and then somebody else knocks their door again and gets them saved Another year later or two years later This is what Jesus is talking about here Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 Seeds sown today will be reaped by you know Somebody else will reap them at another time in the future Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 just another thought on reaping and stowing here 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 Look at verse number 6. The Bible says this it says but this I say he which saw a sparingly Shall reap also sparingly He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully so the Bible is saying that if you sow if you go out and you plant a bunch of seeds and You're never going to be the person that all you do is just plant seeds in your life That's that's kind of a nice little little promissor. It's a nice way of looking at it Anyway, you go out and you just sow seeds all the time and look you're going to get people saved Because the Bible is saying if you go out and you sow Abundantly you are going to reap abundantly, but the Bible is saying if you don't go out and so I Mean this is soul winning motivation right here 2nd Corinthians chapter 9 this is soul winning motivation for the person that goes out and just knocks, you know 700 doors and has 700 doors slammed in his face It has 700 people not get saved This is like this is somebody that's just sowing and sowing and sowing and sowing what you're doing is you just Wrapping up your reaping that's coming down the road Is where you're doing because you're sowing Bountifully and you're going to reap bountifully. It's a good promise here So if you sow you will reap even though you may not reap what you sow Not talking about that verse from the Bible just talking about soul winning and planting seeds of the gospel turn to John chapter 15 John chapter 15 so Jesus here is talking about Let's look at verse 36 where he says in he that reapeth receiveeth wages. We haven't even gotten to the rewards yet I'm just trying to give you the context of what Jesus is actually talking about here What Jesus is telling the disciples that they need to do it says in he that reapeth receiveeth wages and gathereth fruit until life Eternal so Jesus is saying you're going to gather a certain type of fruit here Look at verse number two of John chapter 15 verse number two of John chapter 15 The Bible says every branch in me that beareth not fruit He takeeth away in every branch that beareth fruit He purges it that it may bring forth more fruit Now you're clean through the word which I've spoken unto you and then now look at this So he's talking about by the branches. He's talking about us He is the trunk. Okay. He is the trunk. We're supposed to be abiding in the tree We're the branches of the tree and we're supposed to be bearing fruit. Jesus is saying so Jesus is saying You know and this matches up with a sermon that we heard Sunday night from one of the men talking about You know if we don't abide in Jesus what's going to happen? But look at verse number four says abide in me and I in you as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself Accepted abide in the vine No more can ye accept ye abide in me You ever notice that when you get into the things in the world and you get you know Get really concerned about things in the world and the things in the world grab you and pull you away You ever notice how you start to just have less and less interest in spiritual things It's exactly what Jesus is talking about here. You say you need to be abiding in me Why so you can bear fruit and he's saying if you don't abide in me, it's not going to be possible to bear fruit So if you get out and you get wrapped up in worldly things you get wrapped up in sin Especially out in the world. He's like you're not going to bear fruit by stopping abiding in Jesus You're just gonna and look you know it's true When you start to pay attention to and get into worldly things, especially sinful things You will lose that desire You'll lose that desire music is a perfect example of this just a simple example is if you just go out and listen to a bunch of worldly music all Week long you're gonna come to church and you're gonna hear hymns. You're gonna be like You have less interest in hymns Why because it's gonna rob that spiritual desire from you because you're not abiding in Jesus it's gonna rob your spirituality from you and guess what if you get that spirituality robbed from you you're not gonna bear fruit and then what He's gonna purge you So you bring forth more fruit I? Am the vine year the branches He that abideth in me and I and him the same bringeth forth much fruit. That's the goal Much fruit. What kind of fruit? Fruit unto life eternal Jesus says in John chapter 4 For without me you can do nothing Can I just go out and just live a worldly life? Can I go? Why can't I go out? Why do I have to live this separated Christian life? Why can't I just go out and live the life that everybody else is living and just and still go to church on? I'm just gonna I'm just gonna break my my Christian life down to Sundays I'm just gonna go to church Sunday morning, and I'm gonna go soul winning Sunday afternoon pastor says that I should go Soul winning once a week, so that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna get worldly I'm not gonna separate from anything, and I'm gonna go to church Sunday morning, and I'm gonna go soul winning Sunday afternoon That'll be I'll compartmentalize my Christian life And then like it's not gonna work. That's what Jesus is saying. He's like you'll stop even wanting to do Sunday morning You'll it'll it'll rob you You can't have both Because you can't have fruit without abiding in Jesus. That's what he's teaching in John chapter 15 And if a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch as it is withered and men gather them and cast into the fire and They are burned. Oh, that means I go to hell. No, he's just talking. He's giving you an analogy of a piece of wood He's saying if you don't abide in me, it's not gonna work folks And he's saying notice in verse number this this goes to the sermon on Sunday night where we talked about idols of the heart What's God gonna do when you go out and you find these worldly things that are robbing your desire? For him. What's he gonna do? He's gonna purge those things from you So to plainly speak it into it to put it on top of I think it was brother Max's sermon on Sunday night God you have an idol in your heart you put an idol and you put something in front of God God is going to destroy that thing God's gonna come after that thing and knock it off of that pedestal and get himself back up on that pedestal So you abide in him again. Why because it's all about fruit. That's why turn to Romans chapter 6 turn to Romans chapter 6 I Think I've said this before but it's always good to kind of when we have these soul winning verses Sometimes it's good to go and we've we've read these soul winning verses so many times It's good to go and kind of just remind ourselves of the context of the verses Roman 623 is like our go-to You know one of our it's like the core of our soul winning here Romans 6 23 But let's go up to Romans 6 verse number 21. Let's just look at the Look at the look at the context of Romans 6 23 the Bible says this it says what fruit had ye Actually go to verse 20 says for when you were the servants of sin you were free from righteousness What fruit had ye in those things were of year now ashamed he's saying when before you were saved You were a servant of sin sin literally had you over death's barrel is what he is saying sin condemned you Sin condemned you before you got saved You were a servant to it look if you go and you're saved and you go become a servant of sin You are voluntarily putting yourself into servitude, but it can't kill you That's the difference. So he's saying in verse number 21 he's saying of these things. He's like what fruit had ye in those things none He's saying you didn't have any fruit in those things that you're now ashamed of Now that you know the Bible you're saved You're no longer a servant to those things, but what what you do know is there was no fruit there For the end of those things is what it's death But now me being made free from sin. What does that mean? I'm made free from that doesn't mean you're becoming you're gonna achieve sinless perfection It simply means that sin has no power over you anymore Before it could kill you Before it could send you to hell Before it literally it condemned you to death But now it has no power over you you're freed from it through Jesus Christ and Become servants to God you have you are what? You have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life So here's what Jesus is telling the disciples you see that you see that what does it? What does Jesus say there it says or in what does Paul say there? He says you have your fruit You have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life So look you already have your fruit Jesus is telling the disciples in John chapter 4 go get more It's like you have your fruit You have your fruit unto holiness you better abide in me stay in me And then you will be able to go because you can only do it by abiding in me That's what he's explaining in John chapter 15. You can't do it on your own You can only do it if you're abiding in me you have your fruit go get more It's ready to be picked now The fruit is the fruit is ready the harvest is ready Now go to verse number 36 of John chapter 4 I Mean this is a pretty important I mean they're all like did you get something to eat you get something to eat Jesus and this is what he's throwing at him Can you imagine I? Mean they're just like hey, we're gonna take it easy for the night It's time to just sit down take a break get some get some food and this is what Jesus is laying on He's laying some pretty heavy stuff on him right here. Look at verse number 36 and He that reapeth look at this receiveth wages On top of all of this on top of this this idea that you are now freed from sin, and you have your fruit Under holiness and the end everlasting life eternal life on top of the fact that you have your fruit of eternal life God wants to reward you Can you imagine? After all that he's done Giving us eternal life. God wants to reward us now look turn to Revelation chapter 20 the unsaved are Going to be judged by their works The Bible is very clear about this you say How could how could God reward me? What would God reward me? With why would God reward me does God owe me rewards? Look at Rome or a revelation chapter 20 verse number 12 talking about the great white throne judgment here I just want to show you that the unsaved are going to get what they want They're going to be judged by their works They saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened Which is the book of life the books of the Bible by the way The books are the Bible and the book is the book of life And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books in what the Bible according to their works The unsaved are going to be judged by their works Turn to Matthew chapter 16, but we will be rewarded by ours You say do I deserve that no you don't deserve that but that's just what God's going to do You don't deserve that you don't deserve anything extra. We didn't deserve the we didn't deserve our fruit And God's gonna he's just telling us go get more fruit and I'm gonna reward you for that He's like he that reapeth receiveeth wages look at Matthew 16 27 says for the son of man shall come in the glory of his father with His angels and he shall reward every man according to his works That's talking about us when Jesus comes and gets us. He's going to reward us for what we have done here Turn to Romans chapter 12 you say but wait you say but wait I thought I thought that it was just my reasonable service to serve the Lord With my life. I didn't deserve to be saved. I didn't deserve anything, but hell I still don't deserve anything, but hell and I'm just happy that I'm saved And I thought it was just my reasonable service to just do what God asked me to do You know to serve the God that saved me look at Romans chapter 12 and verse number one I Beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice He's telling you what you should do with your life A living sacrifice like as long as you're alive. This is what you should be doing. You should be sacrificing your life For God you should be doing using This body and this breath in these heartbeats for the Lord Holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable Service and that look if you sacrifice your life that God gave you and you serve God with your life That's a that's a reasonable. It doesn't say extraordinary. It says it's reasonable for you to do that But what I'm trying to get you to see from John chapter 4 and John chapter 15 and many other places I'm going to show you in the Bible is that on top of that God's going to reward you This isn't something that I think about or preach about a lot, but the Bible is very clear about it God is going to reward us But I think the most important thing that we need to take from this is we need to understand this This really kind of helps us understand the God that we serve it really kind of gives us an idea of The type of God that we are serving here. I mean God's got a bad name from a lot of wicked people that hate him There's a lot of wicked people that hate God out there that say all kinds of stupid things about God They don't even know who he is. Oh God's wrathful and the God of the Bible is wrathful and I mean there's just all kinds of people out there There's some I guess there's some politician which I could care less about But he's making the news because he believes the Bible literally. What other way is there to believe believe a book? Like when it says, you know somebody died when they were 120 years old I mean, how you supposed to interpret that? Like what does that really mean? Is that really mean 80 billion years or something? What? But the point is this the point is this God is being slandered left and right in our world today But this is truly the God that we serve and God is explaining here. I mean think about this God gives us eternal life. I mean Three He gives us eternal life for nothing He gives us eternal life and He then he then wants you to ask for things. He's just asked me for stuff. God says that all over the Bible He's like just asking he wants to he wants to give you things that you asked for and then he wants to reward you And guess what he wants to reward you here and eternally You're like wow turn to Matthew chapter 5. I got read you verses on this all night long He wants to reward you for doing his will, you know, and then he tells you, you know, if you do my will you're gonna suffer persecution If you do my will people aren't gonna like it. If you do my will you're gonna have trouble All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution So if you abide in Jesus, I mean just let me break this down for you You know John chapter 15 was just saying abide in me abide in me abide in me abide in me And then you're gonna bear fruit, but then he comes out and look God tells us the whole truth here He tells us the whole truth in the Bible. He says if you abide in me, you're gonna bear fruit But you know what you're gonna suffer for it. You're gonna get persecuted for it But God is saying here look at Matthew chapter 5 verse 12. He says blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake For theirs is the kingdom of heaven blessed are ye when men shall revile you look He's not just saying he's not just saying when men beat you and cut your head off and And do all these terrible things that I always read to you out of the martyrs mirror That's not he's like just that men are mad at you that people are upset with you and Persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake So when people you know see that you're changing the way you do things and you decide you're gonna you know You got saved and now you're gonna abide in Jesus see look the getting saved thing is one thing But then like abiding in Jesus. That's really gonna make people mad You're gonna you know, he's doing what he's going to church some church and like they're telling them to not do this and do this and They're telling them what the Bible says what they're they're walking up and down the streets with Bibles, you know that You know they go around they knock on strangers doors with Bibles in their hands Look people are gonna revile this they're gonna be upset you say why would that upset anybody? I don't know Is the Bible says so? But what does it say it said they're gonna they're gonna talk all kinds of they're gonna lie about you They're gonna say you join some cult They're gonna do come up with all kinds of weird things to say about you and like falsely They're just gonna make up stuff about you and they're gonna talk trash about you constantly when you're not there He's saying then what what I mean that you sound this this is terrible and we'll give the next verse rejoice And be exceeding glad you're like this is crazy. What I'm supposed to this is not pleasant It's not pleasant when people talk trash about you. I Mean, how would you like it if like someone just talk trash about you all the time? You know just like it doesn't make you feel good when that happens that somebody is just spreading lies about you It's an upsetting thing to go through But the Bible here is saying just it's gonna happen It's gonna happen for my sake it look if you're abiding in Jesus and they're doing it Look if you're doing a bunch of bad stuff, and that's what I'm talking trash about you. That's different But if you're abiding in Jesus You're gonna make people mad They're gonna say lies about you and they're gonna make up all kinds of stuff and they're gonna trash you That's where it is rejoice and be exceeding glad why because great is your reward in heaven And you know what it's such a great trade. It's such a great trade to go through a little bit of Nasty-ness here in this little time right here, and then great is your reward in what in eternity Is a rejoice so every single time like maybe you need to remind yourself of this Maybe you need to remind yourself when people are lying about you and they're trashing you people get upset at you And you know I mean you go and you give the gospel to somebody and and they get mad At least we care I mean, you know, I think we've all been there You go and you try to find somebody that you love after you get saved and and you give them the gospel I think I think this has all happened to every single person probably in this room And you give them the gospel and they get upset because you're telling them that you don't think that they're saved man, should I have should I have Should have worded that different or or should I have maybe approached them differently at least you told them You know what I mean Because you say what offended them Jesus offended the Bible offended them That's it So you're like man, it's a tough thing to go through. I get it, but hey rejoice I rejoice with you because great is your reward in heaven You know I had a friend and I've told some of the guys from the church this before But I had a friend who was a Baptist and I was a Lutheran and we used to talk religion and argue doctrine all the time And I was a Lutheran and he was a Baptist and he never told me the gospel He never told me one time That he thought I was unsaved and I met him several years after I got saved and I went and I had lunch with him I was in that same state for some business trip and I went and I had lunch with him and I said Lance, you knew I was unsaved in you and he said yeah, I did. I was like thanks a lot bud And haha, we joked and we had lunch, but I was serious Like here, I was unsaved. He knew it and he never said anything to me. Why? He's probably thought he maybe you'd upset me Probably would have upset me You know I was a faithful word and that guy turned around and told me that I was unsaved You know what that upset me. I told my wife in the car. We got out of that church I told my wife in the car. My wife just had this great time talking to all these ladies I was great. I love that place. I'm like, can you believe that guy what he said to me? But thank God for that guy And you know I was I was I've been on the on both sides of this But the point is nobody likes it But you have to recognize why it's happening if you're getting persecuted for the gospel praise God You're getting persecuted because of the way, you know, you're separating things from your life You're separating your family. You're protecting your children praise God for that Because great is your reward in heaven. You know what great is your reward here as You as you protect your kids from this garbage that's out in this world today I mean, that's our responsibility and not only is our responsibility is that our reasonable service, but God's gonna reward us in eternity for it It's unbelievable You're like he's gonna give us more on top of this. What in the world? This is the God we serve It's awesome It's unbelievable. I want you to get the picture tonight of who we're dealing with You know, we've got this eternal life is a gift folks Eternal life is free like we did nothing for that and then God asked you to do the first works to go out there and Harvest and yeah, it's reasonable Because it only makes sense that we would go show other undeserving people What how to freely get what we didn't deserve that only makes sense But then he rewards us for it This is the God we serve. This is what I want you to see tonight You start to think oh man I'm gonna separate from all this stuff and abiding in Jesus and listening to the Bible and implementing all this stuff The pastor screams and yells about it's tough. You know what? This is the God we serve. He wants to reward you for this This is the kind of parent that you have. This is the kind of father that you have in heaven Which by the way is a good example for the kind of father you should be Turn to Proverbs chapter 13 I mean take this kind of father that we have and apply it to your own parenting skills Try that Because you know what? Look at Proverbs chapter 13. This is a great parenting philosophy by the way, and you should do this look you should chastise your children Definitely you should chastise your children as a matter of fact the Bible is so strong on this good verse number 24 It says he that spares his rod hated his son, but he that loveth him Chaseneth him be times When's the last time you spanked your less than six-year-old if you can't remember you're not doing it, right? If you don't spank your children the Bible say it's not talking about Beating your children it's talking about spanking your children to chasing them. It means you love them The parent that just lets their children do whatever they want does not love their children The Bible says chasing your children, you know could will deliver their soul from hell It's it's chastening them so they will be Obedient to you, and they will have respect for you and guess what guess who's gonna give them the gospel It's gonna be you Guess who they're gonna want to ask how to get to heaven to it's gonna be you So the Bible is very clear about chastening your children and very serious about it But you know what in Ephesians chapter 6, you know what it talks about it talks about nurture It talks about admonition in the Lord So apply what God is doing here in John chapter 4 what he's telling us in John chapter 4 to your parenting You should you should reward Positive behavior from your children I mean You can't just be this this parent that's just this negative parent all the time. It's not gonna work This is that these are the kind of parents That Ephesians chapter 6 and verse number 4 is talking about they provoke their children to wrath In the same verse that it uses the word nurture This is the kind of parent that the kids can't win This is the kind of parent that's you know, just it's all negative all the time Look if they do good, you got to let them know Reward what reward their labor First of all your kids should have labor Your kids should have labor they should have things to do I mean they should have things to take care of Regular chores to do you know what you should reward that This is why I've always given my kids an allowance I've always given once my kids got to the age where they can actually start helping Around the house they could start helping outside. Look I make up stuff for them to do on a regular basis There's a reason that we have animals is just so there's a responsibility there for the kids But they should be they should be rewarded for it You know I once my kids really get to the age where they can actually help You know over the age of 10 11 12 or they're out. I mean they're actually real help to me look I pay them for projects if they come out and and they work with me for eight hours I pay them for that You say I don't think I don't care what anybody thinks because the Bible says you should reward that You should reward that behavior. You should reward good labor God does it for us Why would I not reflect that back onto my children? If not if you just this negative Just like my way or the highway look you should be strict Don't get me wrong and you be better bordering on the side of too strict than not strict enough So don't misunderstand what I'm saying, but you can't be all negative. You got to reward the good stuff And look if you are strict and you do chastise like God says there's going to be a lot of good stuff to reward Don't forget that It's God's attitude with us and it should be a model turn to Luke chapter 11 I'm gonna give you one more example of this of God's attitude in this area look at Luke chapter 11 God gives us the analogy here of a friend or a good friend. Okay. Look at Luke chapter 5 or Luke chapter 11 of verse number 5 I Just want you to see this side of God that is available to you tonight look at Luke chapter 11 in verse number 5 The Bible says and he said unto them which of you shall have a friend And she'll go unto him at midnight and say unto him friend lend me three loaves We've all met this friend before for a friend of mine is in in his journey has come to me And I have nothing to set before him So he's saying you got a friend's knocking on your door And he's saying hey, I need some food. I got I got another friend that just showed up at my house And I got nothing I got nothing in the refrigerator. This was Garrett before he got married. I shouldn't have said that I mean you go over to his house, and you're like, hey, I'm like, oh man. I'm gonna be here long. I'm just kidding I'm just kidding. No, but you got a friend. He shows up at a friend's house at midnight He's like I got somebody that's visiting and I got nothing to give him Can I have three loaves of bread? It says he from within so the friend whose house it is that he's knocking on the door He says trouble me not the door is now now shut and my children are with me in bed I cannot rise and give thee so he says no, I'm not gonna do it I say unto you though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend yet because of his Importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needed This is so great right here Importunity means like persistence and annoyance. Okay, so he's saying he's not gonna give him the bread because he's his friend He's gonna give him the bread because he wants he just he's he's persistent and he just won't stop knocking on the door He's just gonna give him the bread like here. Just take it just go And he's just gonna get how much bread do you want? He's gonna give him as much as he wants and God is using this as an analogy and he says and I say unto you ask And it shall be given unto you Seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be open unto you Everyone that asketh receiveeth and he that seeketh findeth and Tim that knocketh it shall be Open and then he says if a son shall ask bread of any of that is his father We give him a stone if you ask a fish we give for a fish give him a serpent or if he shall ask an egg We offer him a scorpion say if ye then being evil know how to give good grifts under your children How much more should your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? He's saying even a bad friend would give the bread of course God's gonna give it to you All you have to do is ask so God is just saying ask for things The point of the sermon tonight is God wants to give you good things God wants to give you rewards in heaven and blessings here This is not a prosperity gospel. This is the Bible right here. This is the God you serve This is the God that saved you This is the God that gave you free eternal life and on top of that Ask that you go do these things and then just tells me and then just tells you whatever you want Just ask for it. It's like you don't have things because you don't ask for things ask for things And I'll give them to you even a bad friend will give things to something that it to a friend that is asked Even a bad friend. He's like I'm your heavenly father Why don't you just ask? We have this best friend we have this heavenly father and look We just but we won't do what he asks. This is the problem. We won't sacrifice our worldly desires in this life We won't do it instead. You know, we won't sacrifice our worldly desires and serve him instead of trying to go out and make more money We won't sacrifice anything in this life for him yet. He's saying hey Just do this give your body and give your life a sacrifice for me And I'll give you everything and if you don't have something just ask for it And I'll give it to you, but you have to abide in me. You have to do what I say yet. We won't do it We rob him instead We refuse to serve him we take away every opportunity that he has To give to us This is what we do when we embrace this world and and and that The junk that it has to offer and not only that That those worldly things will rob us not only would they rob us of that spiritual desire It will cost others their fruit onto eternal life All while you have yours and I have mine It's it's so messed up when you look at it that way and That's why God promises us that you know what when I do see you with those worldly things that is Costing others that eternal fruit. I'm gonna prune you of those worldly things He promises us that he will do those those things. It makes no sense for a Christian to do this So I'm trying to show you tonight It makes no sense for a Christian not to just work as hard as he or she possibly can to abide in Christ So God can just reward and reward and bless and bless and rejoice in that persecution It makes notice it is literally self-defeating For us not to abide in Christ The carnal Christian is against himself you see this is the God that we serve And this is Jesus's message over a sandwich When the disciples just want to chill out Relax and have something to eat instead. He drops this on him. He's like no go you're gonna gather fruit under life eternal You're gonna receive wages though And then guess what we are all the last thing he says we are all going to rejoice together Look turned up first Corinthians chapter three you say you know what I'd rather have fun here, you know I know this is the guy this is the guy that just doesn't really care how much he has in his savings account He's just like like I used to I used to carpool with this guy, you know He I used to carpool with this guy he had every toy you could possibly imagine He's like you know what if I can afford the payment I'm gonna have it because I don't like my job and as long as I got this job that can allow me to make These payments. I'm like, how can you sleep at night man? You got like $250,000 in car loans, you know, how could I mean which is nothing these days, but this was you know 15 years ago 20 years ago. It was like a billion dollars, right? But I'm just saying and he's just like whatever as long as I can afford the payment I don't care as long as I got a job. I don't care. This is the guy that doesn't care What's in his savings account as long as he's got you know So some fun things that he's got right now, but guess what the Bible is saying that we will regret this If we live like that as Christians, we will regret it look at 1st Corinthians chapter 3 Look at verse number 11. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 3 11 It says for other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ now if any man build upon this foundation Gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every man's work shall be made manifest. That means it will be made known For the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire So this is saying that the foundation that we all have as saved believers is Jesus Christ But you're going to build upon that foundation with that reasonable service that is your living sacrifice of your life And what are you going to build on it? Are you going to build gold silver precious stones? You're going to put wood hay and stubble on it It says every work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is verse 13 is basically saying is that God Knows what you were doing for him and what you were doing for you You're not gonna fool God by pretending you were all spiritual when you're really out for yourself or doing whatever And just trying to like you know get the praise of men for things He's like all that stuff's gonna burn up because it's all gonna be made manifest It's gonna be made known every single thing that you did that's why you don't have to sit here and praise yourself Every time every time you help somebody out every time you you go and and do something great for the Lord You don't have to go announce it to everybody because God knows it'll be made It's gonna be made manifest It's gonna be made known It's it nothing's gonna be not known look at verse number 14 if any man's work abide which he has built there upon he shall receive a reward So this is what I've been telling you for the last 45 minutes is that the good things Abiding in Christ bearing that fruit you're gonna get rewarded for that But this is the last thing I want to leave you with you say I just want to live this life I'm saved. I'm happy with heaven Look at verse 15. It says if any man's work shall be burned. See this is the real key right here It says he shall suffer loss So it's saying You're gonna know You're gonna know that you should have done more You're gonna know that you didn't do a good job You know, we always say that we want that God to say you know well done No good and faithful servant, but if you weren't a faithful servant, you're gonna know that You're gonna feel the loss of That so just know who we serve Jesus is telling gather under light eternal. You'll receive wages for it. You're just like man This God's gonna he's gonna give me rewards for this to eternal rewards to We rewards that will last forever and that's why we will all rejoice Together, let's bow our heads and have more prayer